AUBURN, Ala. — The No. 3 Mississippi State baseball team pounded out 21 hits Saturday to take a 16-6 win against Auburn at Plainsman Park.
The victory helped MSU (36-14, 1, 17-9 SEC) clinch its eighth SEC series of the season, while Auburn fell to 22-29 and 8-18.
MSU enters the final four games of the regular season in sole possession of second place in the Western Division. It is within two games of the overall lead in the standings.
MSU has captured eight of its first nine league series for the first time since 1988. The Bulldogs finish the regular season by winning all five road series in the league, a feat accomplished only one other time in MSU history (1997).
“Really proud of Austin (Sexton),” MSU coach John Cohen said. “We had a couple of plays we didn’t make behind him, but he kept battling and didn’t get down. When you build a big lead early, it can be hard. Even though he was not at his best, he really battled there.”
The Bulldogs struck quickly with eight runs in the second inning. After the Tigers closed within 10-6, the Bulldogs put the game away with three runs in the eighth and ninth innings. The Bulldogs finished with 13 extra-base hits, including eight doubles (most in a game since 2010), two triples and three home runs.
“We had some guys with some really great afternoons at the plate,” Cohen said. “We had a couple of opportunities where we didn’t cash in and you are disappointed in that, but we had so many others where we did. The key was getting into their bullpen early. We thought if we could do that, we could have some success.”
Sexton (6-2) worked 6 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and six runs (three earned), with eight strikeouts and a walk. Daniel Brown finished the game.
In the second, Jacob Robson started things with a single. Ryan Gridley then reached on an error. Elih Marrero followed with an RBI groundout. John Holland had an RBI triple and Jake Mangum had an RBI double.
Jack Kruger and Nathaniel Lowe followed with back-to-back hits. Gavin Collins then hit a three-run home run to left field and Brent Rooker hit the first of his two home runs to dead center.
Collins extended his career-high hitting streak to 13 games. He has reached base safely in a career-high 16-straight games.
In the fifth, Rooker hit a solo home run. In the sixth, Lowe had an RBI single.
A three-run home by Blake Logan brought the Tigers back within 10-5 in the sixth. The Tigers tacked on another run in the seventh.
In the eighth, the Bulldogs scored again on doubles by Mangum, Kruger, and Lowe. After a flyout, Rooker followed with an RBI double.
In the ninth, singles by Gridley and Marrero got things started. John Holland followed with an RBI double. After a single by Mangum, Kruger had a sacrifice fly. Cole Gordon then capped the scoring with an RBI triple.
Mangum and Lowe had four hits, while Rooker and Kruger had three. Holland had two. Collins, Lowe and Rooker had three RBIs. For Rooker, it was home runs Nos. 6 and 7, while Collins has now hit a team-best nine.
This is the third time this season the Bulldogs have had every starter earn at least one hit in a game. The 21 hits are the most by an MSU squad since tallying 21 against Portland on Feb. 15, 2013.
n On Friday, junior right-hander Dakota Hudson threw his second complete game of the year in a 4-0 victory.
Hudson (8-3) limited Auburn to six hits for MSU’s fourth complete game of the season. The shutout was the seventh for Bulldogs. Hudson threw 116 pitches. He walked one and struck out six.
“Dakota was outstanding,” Cohen said. “He got a ton of ground balls. We got some double plays. There were not a lot of balls that got to the outfield. The double play ball in the fifth inning was really huge.”
The Bulldogs gave Hudson all of the offensive support he would need by scoring three times in the third. Kruger started things with his sixth home run of the year with two outs. Lowe then reached on an error and Collins extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a hit. Rooker followed with a ground-rule RBI double. Reid Humphreys capped the scoring in that inning with an RBI single.
In the sixth, the Bulldogs had four hits but only scored one run. Humphreys, Jacob Robson, and Ryan Gridley had singles before Holland had an RBI single.
Rooker, Humphreys, Robson, and Gridley each had multiple hits. The bottom five spots in the lineup had nine of the 11 hits.
The teams will wrap up the series at 1 p.m. today (SEC Network +).
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